


Tron: Allegiance

by EndangeredFandom (EnglishLanguage)



Category: Tron - All Media Types, Tron: Uprising
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Light Angst, Mentors, Rebellion, Salty Tron
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-01 03:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18791740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnglishLanguage/pseuds/EndangeredFandom
Summary: Paige becomes a fugitive from the Occupation and is taken in by Tron.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EnglishLanguage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnglishLanguage/gifts).



> This is my first work and I am looking for some constructive criticism! I love this fandom and I hope that it gets more recognition. I have been reading on Ao3 and I love it. I was really excited to post something of my own and finally, I got around to it. Hope you enjoy~

Beck hops on his lightbike, speeding to Tron's hideout inside of the mountain, making risky turns and flips as he goes, because, of course he does, he's Beck. After turning the bike back into its sleek, black baton, he carries it into the secret hideout of Tron, the totally "dead” program warrior.

Because Beck had only seen himself and Tron in the hideout, he almost chucks his disk at the person standing next to Tron and, _talking_ to him. Beck actually throws the disk when he discovered that it is _Paige_ was sitting right there with his mentor. To his dismay, or later his relief, Paige ducks underneath the disk, just in time, her shocked expression illuminated by the glowing blue.

It was so unnatural, so wrong seeing Paige here, the enemy inside their base, _what was she doing here?!_ And why is her suit the light green instead of her customary military-orange? "Beck! Bless the Grid I thought I told you to stay at the shop today!" Tron curses gesturing at Paige to stay seated. "Why is _she_ here!?” Beck yells, taking a step towards Paige and having collected his disk that he had thrown.

"Calm down, Beck, and let me break this down for you, slow enough for your thick skull to understand," Tron growls, shoving Beck away from Paige and into the next room over.

Beck had noticed a strange. . . Change, in Paige. She had a defeated aura around her, and she didn't seem to have as much hostility in her gaze. As soon as Tron shut the door behind him, Beck whirls around to face the program. "Explain,” he growls, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

Tron sighs, glaring at the young and, in Tron's opinion, inexperienced mechanic. "First of all, I am not obliged to tell you anything. Second of all, I'm the one who should be chastising you right now, young Renegade. You attacked an unarmed program who, may I point out, was doing something as harmless as talking?” Tron raises an inquisitive eyebrow at Beck. "But-“ "I'm not finished, Renegade, did you not realize she wasn't wearing military orange?” Tron stops talking and, assuming Tron is finished, Beck begins his own defense.

"Tron she has tried to kill me so many times! How could you trust her? Why is she here!? She'll give you- no, us- away to Clu!” Slamming a fist in the wall, Beck growls in frustration. Everything he and Tron had built, the uprising, their friendship, their plans. And the older program had thrown it away to talk to the _enemy_!? The worst part is, Tron didn't look frazzled at all, Tron couldn't have betrayed them to Clu, that wasn't like the warrior. He didn’t give in. So why had he let Paige in?

"Once you are done ruining my walls, Beck,” Tron snaps dangerously, "let me explain why she is here. And then maybe you'll understand why I did what I did.” Beck sees those words as an invitation to keep arguing, but he keeps his mouth shut, hands clenching at his sides. At any moment Paige could burst in and derez both of them, and Tron was sitting comfortably on a chair, looking calm and nonchalant. "There is no point in sugarcoating the story because you are no child, even though occasionally you may act like one.” Tron sits up straighter, tilting his chin upwards, "Tesler was going to derez Paige after one of his generals Pavel caught her freeing prisoners that were going to be sent to the games. Apparently, she had been doing this for months.” Tron says, continuing after glancing up once to see Beck's stunned reaction. "She escaped capture and ran away using a stolen lightcycle, her leg was injured when she escaped. I found her near the base. I took her in, if anything expecting she was here on a scouting mission and had discovered us. I thought she was going to be a prisoner, but, she told me her story. After trying to kill me to try to redeem herself to Tesler-.”

" _See_?” Beck points out empathetically, "She will just derez us both once we trust her.” Tron fixes Beck with a glare, but it softens and he lets out an aggravated breath.

"That's a risk we will have to take, Beck. But I don't think that is the case. I addressed and fixed her view some hazy spots of her past. I doubt she'll be trusting Tesler anytime soon. I know this will take some time to used to, considering she tried to kill you, on Telser's orders,” Tron adds when he sees Beck’s furious expression, “but you two will learn together and continue the uprising. Just be patient.” Rising from his light blue seat, Tron crosses the room to face a very disgruntled looking Beck, "She is on our side now, Renegade. Treat her like it, I feel that you two could become great friends over time.” Tron places a comforting hand on Beck's shoulder, a rare gesture, and fixes him with a warm gaze before leaving the room, waving a hand to invite Beck to follow him.

He does so warily, and he can't help narrowing his eyes when Paige comes into view, she hasn't looked up from a circular table she seated herself at, tracing a swirling pattern on the metal. "Paige,” Tron says softly, as if not to startle her. She doesn't look up. “I've talked to Beck and sorted everything out. You will be safe here.” The warrior finishes with a kindness that is rarely shown by the battle-scarred, literally, program. Paige nods absentmindedly, it was so unlike her, that Beck was 99.8% sure she was being mind-controlled. It was strange seeing the female program in green. Medic colors, because Beck had never seen any side of her except for her warrior facade. Shaking his head, Beck leaves the room to think, there was no changing Tron’s mind, he would have to adapt.

  



	2. Chapter 2

A couple of days have passed and Paige has determined that Beck is overrated. He is whiny, and not very observant, from what she has seen. But however hard Paige would try to muster up the previous anger she had for him, Paige has to give him credit for being selfless and kind. She quickly shuts down those thoughts, focusing on finding her way to the training room.

Beck is already there, and she does her best to shoot him a suspicious glare-like look. He sticks his tongue out at her in return. Mature. Tron hasn’t walked into the room yet so it gives Beck the opportunity to talk to Paige alone. “You know that you didn’t have to rejoin the Occupation after they arrested you.” Beck’s cold tone indicates distrust and anger, Paige instantly catches on what he is trying to say.

“What did you want me to do?” She snaps back glaring at the floor. She knows she did something wrong, she doesn’t need him to remind her as well. Her shoulders are painfully stiff and to cover up some of her guilt, she turns away from him, picking at the edge of her suit. His white one is painfully different from hers, which is the classic ebony black. It reminds her how different their roles are, how different they always were. That makes their date seem even more childish and idiotic.

“You could have come with me in the first place.” Beck shoots back, disgruntled.

“Yeah, and you would have trusted me so much then,” Paige growls sarcastically. Beck’s mouth opens, but then closes, seeing the truth in Paige’s words. They sat still in an uncomfortable silence that seemed to muffle the air and clog their throats. Eventually, the tension became too much and Paige snaps, “Why did you go on that date with me if you knew that I was trying to kill you?” The unanswerable question.

Beck instead glares at her, “That,” he begins in a standoffish tone, “is none of your business.”

The female program’s arms fold tightly, running to face the Renegade, “How is it not my business?”

“It’s not your business because who knows if you’ll just turn against Tron and derez him to go back to Tesler and Pavel, that slimy weasel of a program!” Beck yells back, his loyalty to his mentor is so apparent that, frankly, Paige is offended he doesn’t trust her as much. He was willing to save her earlier, to _date_ her and think she could change. And that had been when she was still his enemy. Now, one of the only people who share his secret of him being the Renegade, and he hates her. Could it be that he was. . . Jealous that Tron was now training more than just him?

Unbeknownst to them, Tron has been standing in the doorway for the last moments of their fight. “Now, if you two are done snapping at each other’s throats, I would like to get this training session started.” He snips coldly, giving each of them a scolding glance. Paige at least has the decency to look downwards in shame, whereas Beck gives Tron a, “ _What did_ I _do_?”, look. Tron sighs and looks heavenwards, “I hope you two will do the best to put your pasts behind yourselves. However, let us begin our training, we’re behind.” This would be Beck and Paige’s first training session together. Paige was fairly skilled, but Beck had been training with Tron for months now and had pulled ahead of her. So, when Tron called for a sparring match, Paige had already prepared herself for defeat.

Beck swings first, Paige dodging his training disk by centimeters then countering with a blow to Beck’s side. Seeing the disk out of the corner of his eye, Beck leaps to the side, safely out of Paige’s range before throwing his disk. It grazes Paige’s arm and she lets out a hiss of annoyance, her arm flashing quickly out of range so that Beck could not strike it again.

Tron makes no verbal comment but seems to make a mental note of their progression, noting every move that the two programs make.

Paige’s leg flares with pain, the uncomfortable pulling sensation of scar tissue tugging at her calf. The sudden motion causes it to scream in pain, it feels as if sharp needles are being pushed up into her leg. She falters, but manages to recover, feigning right but bounding left, striking Beck across the hip. They fluidly leap around the provided area, a fair enough match for each other. However, Beck constantly seems to have a slight upper hand, considering his advances training and Paige’s leg slows her down.

The Renegade senses the pattern in their movements, the robotic attacks that leave no opportunity to gain a large advantage. Beck decides to mix up the pattern, do something different to catch Paige off guard. He darts his leg out, tripping her, a strange urge inside of him compels him to catch her arm and break her fall, but he ignores it. This. Is. Paige. The former enemy, the supposed spy. His train of thought races throughout his mind, setting every nerve on edge, arguing every possible point. Those few seconds feel like several cycles.

Shaking himself out of his daze, he raises his disk to mimic the beginning of a final blow, however, Paige jumps back to her feet, and Beck’s disk catches her in the shoulder instead. The dull sound of metal hitting bone fills the two combatant’s ears, Tron sees a black-suited figure recoil sharply, a hand fluttering to her shoulder before flinching.

Beck sweeps Paige's legs from underneath her as she stands, stunned. A fleeting frown flashes across Tron’s lips before disappearing. Paige lashes her disk upwards, nicking Beck’s lower jaw. Anger flares in Beck’s face, his helmet covering up the facts how much that close call almost cost him. Beck lowers his disk to hover above Paige’s throat, breathing heavily.

“Very well, Beck. Paige, you did very well considering that Beck has been training with me for more time than you have. Good job to the both of you. Since Paige is still recovering, we will have a short break before continuing the training.” Tron promptly walks out of the room, leaving the two young programs alone again. Beck sits down, a slightly smug look on his face, Paige decides to sit across from him, tracing patterns on her suit.

The silence gets to Paige first and she storms out of the room, limping slightly on her scarred leg. The program flops onto her bed, scowling at the ceiling, why didn’t Beck trust her? It wasn’t fair. She knew she was sounding like a child, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t fair that _now_ when she decided to be good, Beck hated her. She didn’t understand why that made her so angry, but it did.

A knock comes at her door, but before she can actually say anything, Tron walks in. “Hello,” Paige sighs tiredly. “Are you feeling well?” Tron asks, still standing in the doorframe. Paige shrugs, was she feeling well?

Instead of replying yes or no, an unexpected thing burst out of Paige’s mouth, “Will Beck ever trust me?” Tron looks momentarily stunned, before his face schools itself into a thoughtful expression.

“I think it will take some time for Beck to trust you and get used to seeing you on our side. It was quite a shock for him.” He finishes, walking fully into Paige’s room.

“So he still thinks of me as a bad guy?” Paige asks dully.

“The enemy, not a bad person. Put some trust in him Paige, whatever relationship you two had earlier is still possible.” The female program makes some sound that sound vaguely like, “Whatever”.  A rare grin cracks on Tron’s face, “You aren’t a bad person Paige, you never were, we all have things we regret.” He says lowly, Paige could trace something that sounded almost like guilt in his voice. What did this legendary program regret?

“Even you?” She asks bitterly, not much anger towards Tron, but more towards herself, for not noticing Tesler’s deception, for hurting all those innocent programs.

“Yes. Even me. I wasn’t able to stop Clu.” Grief fills his voice, leaving it heavy and tired. It sounds like he wants to drop the topic, but Paige wasn’t finished getting answers quite yet.

“Where were you? If Clu didn’t kill you why didn’t you intervene with his plans earlier? I don’t blame you, but everyone, even programs in the military were scared of evil programs like Rinzler.” Paige asks, trailing off though when she sees Tron’s pained expression.

“I can’t tell you and Beck everything yet, all in due time. Rest your leg, once you’re feeling better we can train again.” Tron leaves the room, face dark in thought, leaving Paige to ponder about the curious things that the warrior program had said.

  



	3. Chapter 3

Beck overheard the entire conversation, having hidden right outside the door. Clambering out of his hiding spot, his cramped muscles pull painfully when he stretched them out. He casts a glance at Paige’s room, unsure whether to enter it or not. He decides to leave instead, not wanting to try to untangle his complex feelings.

Waving to Tron on his way out, Beck climbs on his swift lightbike, speeding away in a blur,dark bluish-grey mountains smudging to a bar of one solid color. His thoughts whirl around his brain like an unforgiving hurricane. His feelings for Paige seeming as if they were locked in tight iron chains. It infuriates him, she was on his side, he wanted her to be, however, his mind reasoned otherwise.

Treacherous parts of his brain whispered thoughts inside of his mind, what if she killed Tron? What if she killed me? She can’t be trusted. But she could, couldn’t she? He is concentrating so hard on his thoughts that he doesn’t see the boulder in front of him until he runs into it.

Flying off his lightbike, time seems to move a thousand cycles slower. Everything flies around him in a cloud of confusions. His brain finally catches up to his senses when sharp spire of rock pierces through his shoulder. Pain lances through his muscles, mind screaming in pain. The sensation of agony rips through his code. The shrapnel pierced clear through his armor sticking out of the other side of his shoulder, pixels of white-blue code falling away from the wound. His head spins and a headache that doubles the pain in his shoulder pounds through his skull. Other razor-sharp debris have managed to embed themselves into Beck’s skin, some finding themselves in his neck and chest.

Beck tries to stand up but he falls down, some code in his left leg grinding against each other, flaring in pain. His leg’s code was most definitely broken. Fumbling for the baton of his lightbike, his fingers clasp around the black stick like a vise and he falls back down, the world swooping and tilting beneath him.

Breathing heavily, Beck steels himself, glancing at his shoulder. He almost throws up. A jagged piece of rock about twice the size of a lightbike baton has stuck itself in his shoulder. Pixels well around the wound and crumble away, his suit is torn, jagged ends of the material clinging to the rock. He can’t pull it out without causing more damage.

The Renegade tries to move his injured arm, but the flare of pain that follows makes him become woozy, a brilliant white flash of pain spreading across his vision.

“Need. . . . Get back. . .” Beck stumbles, “To Tron.” Panting, he activates his light bike, hands shaky. His vision swims, the lightbike eating up terrain beneath him. Beck knows that going at too fast of a speed would be unwise in his state, pressure fills his head. Black edges in at the corner of his vision, it is getting harder to think. Seeing the headquarters far away he starts blacking out, if he just could keep on riding for a few more minutes. . .

Everything goes black.

 

Though the Grid constantly has a flawless ebony black sky, the programs who call it home have an internal clock that constantly keeps them well aware of the time.

Therefore, Tron knew that Beck was late. Very late. “I told  him to be back here by early noon yesterday.” He grumbles to no one in particular. It worried Tron slightly, but the fact that Beck had a job curbed some of Tron’s concern. Perhaps Able just had deemed it necessary to hold Beck in after he skipped several shifts.

“Good morning, do you know where Beck is?” Paige asks, walking into Tron’s room. Though she tries her best to sound nonchalant, Torn can pick up the slight concern in her tone. The green glow that emits from Paige’s suit is very different from her former orange, and she always finds herself startled when she glances in a mirror. At first, Paige didn’t want to revisit the memories of her past life as a medic. The death of her friends and all of the programs in the hospital had shaken her very existence and lead her down a very dark road. Somehow Paige felt that if she ignored her past life, it would go away, but Tron insisted that she should embrace her past, so she did.

“I don’t know where Beck is, but I would assume he is at Able’s shop.” Tron rumbles, seeming as though he wasn’t completely sure with his answer.

“I’m going to go on a short lightbike ride.” She excuses herself, sensing that Torn didn’t want to be bothered. Paige silently slips from the room, walking down the empty hallways of the base. It was surreal, living with Tron. The legend she thought was dead, plus the fact that _Beck_ was the Renegade. “And he hates you so that’s wonderful.” Paige murmurs to herself, “It just makes so much sense.” Rolling her eyes, Paige presses a button that opens a door that is hidden on the outside. She closes it behind her and activates her lightbike.

A frown has fixed itself on Paige’s face. “ _Fine time to feel self-pity._ ” She thinks bitterly, scowling through her suit’s visor. She slows down her bike, far enough from Tron’s base to not feel the squeezing feeling of guilt, she constantly felt like she had to be the very best, try her hardest. And it was so difficult to prove herself to Beck, to make it up to Tron. She would never be good enough for the Renegade or The Legend.

The medic deactivates her lightbike, watching it fold into a black stick. The sand-like pixels that make up the ground shift slightly when she sits down. Paige bites her lip, trying to ignore the frustration accumulating inside her.

Suddenly, she explodes. Paige yells in anger, picking up a handful of sand and chucking it. “ _Real mature, Paige._ ” She thinks to herself. Her nerves feel agitated and jumpy, wanting to punch something. She wishes Beck was here, to punch him, or talk to him, Paige doesn’t know.

A flicker of light sparks in her peripheral vision, snagging her attention. Years of instinct build up in her and Paige reaches for her disk, ready for a fight.

Blue-white light, not the Occupation. Also, it was a little distance away, far enough that Paige can’t see what the light source was from. Had it been there before? If so, she hadn’t noticed it. Curiosity overrules the sense of caution Paige has and the medical program reactivates her lightbike, riding towards the light.

The lightbike thrums as it speeds towards the light that constantly flickers on and off. The closer Paige gets, the clearer the image becomes. It looks like a. . . Lightbike. Overturned and damaged, but something else is lying next to the bike. “ _Oh my gosh. . ._ ” Paige thinks, the pieces clicking together in her mind, “ _That’s a program._ ”

The medic part of Paige’s code clicks on, she speeds up, screeching to a halt when she is about ten feet away from the wreckage. Leaping off her bike, Paige sprints over to the still figure, it couldn’t be dead, but pixels of code were spilling slowly onto the ground. The program would be dead soon.

Kneeling down next to the program, Paige takes off the program’s helmet.

The panic that flares through Paige’s skull almost makes her scream.

It’s Beck.

  



	4. Chapter 4

    Tron hasn’t relaxed since Beck’s supposed arrival time passed. His fingers tick anxiously against his leg. He glances out a large window that shows a large expanse of empty grid, tall, jagged mountains protruding from the ground. Tap. Tap. Tap. His fingers keep drumming against his thigh. With Paige and Beck gone, his house seems. . . Empty. Tron’s gotten used to the two younger programs milling around the base.

    The sound of a lightbike awakens Tron from his stupor. It was either Beck or Paige, Tron hoped it was Beck, then he would know if the Renegade was alright, whereas Paige wouldn't have gotten herself into trouble.

    Standing in the doorway, Tron can see Paige’s lightbike approaching. More concern fills his chest, leaving a tight feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. As Paige nears, Tron sees a second figure riding on the bike behind her, slouched over on Paige’s back. A mixture of panic and relief washes over Tron, him being quite soured the second program is Beck. A protective feeling consumes Tron’s mind and he rushes towards the oncoming lightbike.

    To avoid colliding with Tron, Paige skids to a stop, supporting Beck’s body before deactivating her lightbike. Unconscious, Beck was very heavy, and she dips underneath his weight, hobbling to Tron. “He’s injured, I don’t know what happened, I just found his like this. I need to give him medical attention, quick.” She sounds frenzied and panicked, pushing past Tron and entering the base, struggling to keep Beck upright, his arm slung over her shoulder.

“Paige, let me help you.” Tron insists, keeping himself sounding calm so he wouldn’t further worry Paige. She reluctantly nods, too used to doing things by herself and not relying on others for help. The combined panic of both programs intertwine, and at that moment they understand each other’s feelings perfectly, in a way they haven’t before. An unspoken agreement passes between them. Whatever the cost, Beck must stay alive.

The two programs hurry to Paige’s room after she reasoned that it would be the best place to work on him. They lie Beck on Paige’s bed, careful not to jostle him too much or touch his wound, which is glowing a harsh whitish blue and spilling pixels across the floor.

“Paige, do you know anything about this incident?” He asks coldly, letting his protectiveness over Beck get the best of him. He can’t help but keep the note of suspicion out of his voice.

“I had nothing to do with this!” Paige exclaims, voice tight. “I,” Paige cuts herself off, biting her lip.

Tron bows his head, slightly ashamed for doubting Paige’s loyalty. Seeing Beck in this state has shaken the older program, and there was no doubt about that. The frailty of Beck’s life suddenly felt painfully clear to Tron, any second Beck could be derezzed. The younger program would never return, ever. He’d be gone, dead. “I know, I’m sorry. You are a medic, you know what to do.” Tron leaves the room without another word or explanation of his sudden abruptness leaving Paige in the silence of her room.

    It is surprising, and relieving, how the older program trusted her. Paige was too used to programs such as Pavel and Tesler second guessing her ideas, making her feel worthless, as if she was striving to reach a goal that was impossible. Tron made her feel wanted, not just wanted, necessary. Paige abruptly switches her attention to Beck, who was slowly dying, she got to work immediately, dressing his wounds, fixing his code, and cleaning the pixels that stained the floor.

 

    Hours pass and Paige’s eyes begin to flutter shut, being in desperate need of energy. She had made progress on Beck’s fatal wounds, assessing the damage that had been done to his code. The main network of code* in his thigh was cracked, it would be extremely painful to recover in addition to the fact that it would take a while. The likelihood of Beck being able to train again soon was very low. Paige sinks into a stupor, grief overwhelming her senses. What if she couldn’t heal Beck? His injuries are severe, but at this state he can’t be moved to a hospital, and it is not an option to bring a more experienced healer to Tron’s base. The horrible possibility of Beck’s death surrounds Paige like a cloud, threatening to suffocate her. The shallow dip and rise of Beck’s chest is the only sign that the program wasn't dead. However, second he could derez, disintegrating  into tiny pixels of code. “I’m sorry,” Paige croaks hoarsely, tears spilling over her lashes, “I’m trying everything. I won’t let you die, you can’t die. Just, stop dying.” She rambles desperately, hands trembling.

    Beck’s eyes flicker open momentarily, and a small groan escapes his lips. That sends hope surging through Paige, he wasn’t about to die, but his health could decline without warning. Paige would just have to stay awake, she would force herself to. There was no possible way that Paige would let Beck die without talking to him once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * The main network of code: My headcanon is that programs have main code in their bodies that kind of work like skeletons. So if they break the main code of their arm it is the equivalent of a user breaking their arm.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This has been really fun to write and I don't really know where I'm going with this so if you can comment on some suggestions that would be really cool ~ Thanks :)

Tron enters Paige’s room to see her working on Beck. Though her face was a mask of pure concentration, her slouched posture and hesitant movements show her fatigue. “Hey kid,” he announces his presence softly, sitting down next to Paige. She glances up, acknowledging Tron’s presence, but not saying a word. “Paige, rest for a bit, it won’t help Beck of you are dead tired while working on him.” Tron says firmly, knowing it would be the only way to get the medic to rest.

She doesn’t say anything, a pensive look on her face. But, she follows Tron when he slowly backs out of the room, casting one last glance towards Beck as she leaves.

“We shouldn’t have left him alone,” Paige says suddenly, “his health is really unstable right now.”  Her fingers work in the air, mimicking the motions she is doing to fix Beck’s code. Paige casts another glance towards Paige’s room, in which Beck is lying. “How long do you think he’ll be like this because he might need to be fed somehow.” Paige's is just rambling nervously now and she knows it.

“Paige, calm down. We are no use to Beck if we panic. I don’t know how bad his injuries are, however, we need to be  _ ready  _ to accept the fact that it is very possible he will be crippled. Or that he might derez.” Tron hates to hear himself say it, but he needs to be straightforward and strong for Paige’s sake. 

“No he won’t die, I can fix him, I know I can, I just need time.” She stresses, casting yet another quick look towards Beck’s direction. 

Tron sighs but does not push the matter further, instead, he walks away from Paige, coming back soon after with a cup filled with energy. “Here, you should drink this to replenish your strength.” Tron hands Paige the slender cup, holding it stubbornly in her direction until she grudgingly accepts it. “How about we talk about Beck if you’re so worried about him anyway.” Tron manages an encouraging smile, watching Paige tentatively sip at the drink. Paige stays silent and Tron quirks an eyebrow, coaxing Paige to talk would be harder than he thought.

“You had a date with Beck once, didn’t you?” The older program asks such a direct question it shocks Paige out of her stupor.

“Er, something like that, I guess. It didn’t end well.” Paige responds, giving Tron absolutely nothing to work with, no emotions to really decipher. 

Tron makes a grunt of agreement, “I heard about it. Seemed like quite the outing to me.” Paige doesn’t look up, downing the rest of the energy. “Paige, since I have tried, and failed, at being subtle about this, I’m going to ask you right now. What are your feelings for Beck?”

She stiffens, slight color flooding her cheeks. “It’s. . . Complicated to say the least, especially because I am lost about his opinion on me.” Both her hands cup her empty energy drink, tapping on the sides. 

“Can you try to explain?” Tron asks curtly, keeping his gaze fixed on Paige.

“Well, occasionally I find myself trying to stop liking him. Because we have fought before, or because he never told me that he was the Renegade. I can’t hate him though, he is just too good of a person, I like him.” Paige continues, trying to find the words for something she has not been able to explain to even herself, “Now that we are on the same side, I would assume that he would still like me, but all of the sudden he is being very cold and I don't understand it at all.” Her fingers clasp the cup tighter, “I do like him, but I try to convince myself otherwise because I need to focus on being as useful to the uprising as possible. It’s just all complicated. I just hope he isn’t- that he doesn’t- I just hope he isn’t dead before I have a chance to tell him all of this.” She finishes quickly, letting out a breath, relieved she actually found a way to reciprocate the feelings she has in her mind accurately in words. 

Tron nods, taking Paige’s rant in. “I have never been in your particular situation, however, I think I may be able to help you. At least I can tell you that Beck does not hate you. He feels just as conflicted as you do, Paige. You just need to give him time.”

Paige nods noncommittally, “I better get back to my room.” She stands up, stretching her numbs legs and turning back to her room.

“Paige, one last word of advice. You could try talking to him when this is all over.”

“If he doesn’t derez first.” It is a depressing thought, but as Tron said, she has to prepare for the worst. Tron says nothing, nodding slightly in agreement, sensing Paige’s grim solemnity.

  
  



End file.
